Tottenham fans are right to get excited over the prospect of Benteke wearing a Lilywhite shirt but should hold fire on the champagne for now: There is no chance a Defoe-plus-cash deal sways Villa's hand even a little.

For the last two successive seasons, Villa's financial mantra has revolved around cutting player wages, saving money and recruiting young players with resale value.

Matthew Lowton, Ashley Westwood, YacoubaSylla, Joe Bennett and Christian Benteke were all recruited last season—not one is over the age of 23, and not one will be earning a mega wage.

Defoe has no resale value whatsoever, and the link between he and Villa floats to the surface every single summer without fail.

Villa have built their team around Benteke, who represents the complete modern forward. Recruiting a one-dimensional poacher in the form of Defoe would very much go against what Lambert is trying to do.

In fact, it would be akin to deciding Darren Bent is suddenly back in the starting lineup.

Tottenham will find out soon enough that they will need to stump up a considerable amount of cash to land Benteke, not weedleunwanteds and cast-offs into the deal to lower the price.